Seth Rogen And Garth Ennis Say The Boys Will Look As Good As Superhero Movies
Film-makers offer update on forthcoming outrageous show.
It feels like decades since someone first floated the idea of turning Garth Ennis' dark, hilarious post-superhero comic series The Boys into a film or TV show.
Way back in 2008, the rights to the comic were picked up by Columbia Pictures, who intended to make a film with Adam McKay attached to direct by 2010. Two years later, the studio dropped the option, but McKay said Paramount had picked the rights up. Clearly, that wasn't to be either, but then hot off the tail of making Preacher, Seth Rogen swooped in as the comic's unlikely white knight and it was reported he'd be making a show for Cinemax.
The new show-maker and creator Garth Ennis, who will sit beside Rogen at the lead table has offered some updates on the show (which follows a team of special ops heroes who clean up after reckless, arrogant superheroes). Rogen says "we're in a similar place with it now where we were with Preacher. Now that we've convinced everyone to let us adapt this into a show, what are we actually going to do?"
Given Preacher's reception, you'd trust Rogen to do what he wants with The Boys (though the ratings haven't been monumental).
Ennis reflected on how the lay of the landscape will now affect how easy it is to get people on board with the show:
"I think in terms of plot, it's going to be easier. I think it's a lot more linear. Ten years ago, if you introduced The Boys to a mainstream audience, they would've been mystified, they would be able to identify roughly who was standing in for Batman, Superman, the Hulk, probably Spider-Man and Captain America. Not beyond that. Now, 10 years on, with the success of the various franchises, mainstream audiences have been educated in the world of superheroes. So when an Iron Man-esque guy pops up, they'll know who that is. That's going to be simpler."
Ennis also said they want to be sure that "The Boys look[s] as good as a superhero movie. It's less grounded than Preacher in that regard." But given the higher production values in TV these days, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. They need to spend more time worrying about how they convince Simon Pegg to star.
Are you looking forward to The Boys? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.